New Report Highlights the Successes of the RAD Program

A new report by the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley highlights the early successes of the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program, which converts public housing authorities’ (PHAs) existing annual operating and capital subsidies into project-based rental contracts that can attract private capital, a change that offers significant tenant and affordability protections. The report shows that the RAD program is successfully leveraging federal dollars with private funds to help PHAs rehabilitate and preserve public housing units that would otherwise be demolished over time due to obsolescence. Furthermore, the report emphasizes the importance of expanding the RAD program by allocating additional federal funds and using other financing sources to help close financing gaps, including considering expansions to the Housing Credit and set-asides for RAD as part of housing finance reform.